


The Tsuranga Conundrum

by mag_lex



Series: Series 11...but Thasmin [5]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 22:53:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21916795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mag_lex/pseuds/mag_lex
Summary: Things don't quite go to plan when Yaz and the Doctor explore a junk galaxy together.
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor/Yasmin Khan
Series: Series 11...but Thasmin [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1578505
Comments: 7
Kudos: 143





	The Tsuranga Conundrum

**Author's Note:**

> This is my love letter to my fave episode of series 11 (I know, I know...), which is why it's stupidly long. A big thank you to Silver for beta-ing this beast, it really did need it. You'll notice quite a few changes from the original - as much as I love the episode, it had too many characters and not enough whump so here's how I'd have liked to see it 🙂
> 
> Enjoy!

“A junk galaxy?” Yaz had to ask because she wasn't sure she'd heard the Doctor right. A junk galaxy didn't sound remotely appealing and she wondered what she'd signed herself up for.

“That's right! And each one has hundreds of scrapyard planets, it’s pretty impressive. But I’m sure we’ll hit gold, metaphorically speaking, with Seffilun 27 because I found a whole load of these parts there last time. And the TARDIS very kindly helped me reprogram a couple of detectors so it shouldn’t take long at all, really. I promise.”

Yaz couldn’t say no to the Doctor when she looked at her like that - it was how she'd found herself in this position to begin with - and she frowned at the metal detector the Doctor thrust into her hands. Ryan and Graham had managed to avoid this more tedious task by claiming prior commitments that not even a time-travelling spaceship could tear them away from. Ryan had even given Yaz a cheeky thumbs up as the Doctor had led Yaz to the TARDIS earlier that morning, nattering away about the spare part they needed to find and why it was so crucial.

“Are there likely to be any left behind if you found so many last time?”

“Think positive, Yaz! I know we’ll get lucky.”

Yaz raised an eyebrow at her turn of phrase but the Doctor was already heading for the TARDIS doors, detector firmly in hand and completely oblivious to the unintended meaning of her words. 

Yaz sighed. Ever since the events of Alabama, things between them had felt a little strained and as understandable as that was, acknowledging it didn’t make things any easier. Yaz had been hoping that the Doctor’s memory of their night together might miraculously restore itself, but thus far she’d given absolutely no indication that she remembered what had transpired between them. Yaz, on the other hand, re-lived that night on a fairly regular basis. It was torture. And the fact that they were now alone together, without the distraction of Graham or Ryan, was only going to make things harder.

The Doctor was already scanning the ground when Yaz emerged from the TARDIS. The scenery was unimpressive to say the least; the Doctor really hadn’t been kidding when she was talking about junk galaxies. With a heavy sigh, Yaz resigned herself to her fate, resolving to put a bit of distance between them so that she could get her head straight. Besides, it wouldn’t make sense for them to go over the same ground. 

They lost track of time. Every now and again the Doctor would check in or spout a random fact that brought a grin to Yaz’s face, despite herself. She might well have been a bit annoyed at the Doctor but she was even more annoyed at herself for being so weak-willed. She visualised Ryan’s face as he gave her that knowing thumbs up and reflexively kicked a hunk of junk hard enough to stub her toe. 

“Ow,” she grumbled. 

“You okay over there, Yaz?” the Doctor called. She was at least 50 metres away, and Yaz had no idea how she could possibly have heard her complaint. 

“Fine,” she called back, flashing her a brief smile that turned into a more genuine one when the Doctor beamed back at her. It was hard to stay miserable when the Doctor was in such a chipper mood. The Doctor's grin grew even broader when the detector in her hand started to beep more rapidly. 

“Oh!” the Doctor exclaimed. "Bingo!"

Yaz was halfway over when the Doctor's smile slipped from her face. 

"Stop!"

The directive was so unexpected that Yaz continued to walk a few more paces, prompting another exclamation from the Doctor, who now looked well and truly panicked.

"Yaz, I mean it, stop! Don't come any closer."

She held out her hand to emphasise her point and Yaz ground to a halt, shocked by the alarm in her tone. 

"What's wrong?"

The Doctor grimaced. 

"Sonic mine."

"A what?" Yaz frowned. "Sonic, like your-"

"Screwdriver, yes, Yaz, but I think you missed the more important word there."

"Mine... Doctor, are you standing on a mine?"

Yaz felt her stomach drop when the Doctor nodded. 

"What's going to happen?"

"I'm sorry, Yaz. You're about to find out."

The world went white.

* * *

Yaz wasn't sure if the noise she could hear in her ears was real or imagined. She'd been having the most wonderful dream about flowers and her mum popped up, randomly, and there was someone singing. Her Nani, by the sounds of it. 

Except nobody was singing, not really; her ears were ringing.  _ That was it _ . 

When she rolled onto her back, she could feel rather than hear the moan that escaped as solid ground made itself known. Reality was much less pleasant. It felt like her insides had been ripped out and shoved back in again.

_ Ouch _ .

The world was frustratingly dark and fuzzy around the edges but after several failed attempts, Yaz managed to focus on the shape lying several metres away, covered in debris. It was the Doctor, it had to be - nobody else wore a coat of that beautiful pale blue, or boots so haphazardly tied. She seemed to have lost one of them, though, and Yaz found the idea oddly funny until she realised that the Doctor wasn't moving. 

"Doctor?" She called out. It felt weird to speak and not quite hear what she was saying. She had no idea if she'd shouted loudly enough, so she tried again. Her throat ached but it was only one word. She could do this. 

"Doctor!"

Yaz cried out but there was no response. The way the Doctor was lying suggested she was not conscious, and her torso had twisted in a way that looked so uncomfortable that there was no way she could be awake. The idea that she might not even be breathing prompted Yaz into action.

Yaz steeled herself and took a deep breath. She had to get to the Doctor. She bit back a cry of pain as she rolled onto her stomach, trying not to breathe too deeply as she came face to face with the dirty ground. Debris littered the space between them; navigating it was going to take all of Yaz’s energy.

She started to crawl. Those few metres that separated them took painstaking minutes to cover and every now and again, she had to stop to catch her breath. The Doctor still hadn’t moved and Yaz started to panic that she might actually be dead. The idea kept her going for far longer than she thought possible but before long the pain won out and the world started to get even darker at the edges. It was too far, the distance insurmountable when she hurt so badly. She felt desperation fight with the wave of agony that was brutally shutting down her brain.

The Doctor’s name was the last thing to fall from her lips before her body failed her. 

_ I’m sorry. _

* * *

Except that wasn’t the end of life as she knew it. Yaz had no idea how long she’d slept for, but she remembered snippets, strange voices, and the sensation of being moved. A warm blanket being draped over her. Something pinching the skin on the back of her hand, a sting, and the cool relief of analgesia suffusing her body, chasing away every ache and pain. That last wave of euphoria had sent her under for so long that she woke up with a dry mouth and an aching head, like she’d slept for days. 

“There you are.”

A face swam into view and Yaz struggled to focus on it. A woman, that much she could tell, with dark hair and a soft voice. A Scottish accent, by the sounds of it, but she had markings on her face that were unfamiliar.

There was also light, lots of light. It hurt Yaz's eyes. At least they’d made it off that damn junk planet, which was dingy to say the least. A spike of adrenaline woke Yaz fully. 

She hoped they’d  _ both _ made it out alive. 

“Doctor?” she asked, the single word an effort. Her mouth felt like she’d just left the dentist, numb and tingly. 

“Kind of,” the woman replied, and Yaz could see a piece of glass in her hand, lined with blue lights. She ran it over Yaz’s arm, apparently scanning her.

“No. Doctor.”

Yaz was frustrated that she couldn’t get the words out and tried to stand instead. It helped that she was reclining in a chair of some kind because she was sure she’d have fallen out of a proper bed if her legs hadn’t been quite so well supported. 

The woman gently pushed her back, pulling the blanket back up around her waist. 

“I’m not sure what you mean,” she soothed. “But you’ll be alright. Take it easy.”

Yaz let her eyes drift around the room and they widened when they finally landed on a chair on the other side. The Doctor was sitting on it and a man with a scanner was working on her. Yaz was certain she was still unconscious because she’d never seen the Doctor so still or so quiet. 

“Doctor,” Yaz repeated, lifting a shaking hand to point across the room. 

The woman finally seemed to clock on. 

“Your friend’s a doctor?”

Yaz nodded, unable to give her a more accurate answer. It was close enough. 

“She’ll be alright, too. She might just take a bit longer to come around, is all. We think she was standing closer to the mine, if her injuries are anything to go by.”

_ The mine _ . Flashbacks flooded Yaz’s mind as she remembered precisely how she’d ended up there. 

“Take it easy. Please try to relax,” the woman urged, fussing with something to the side of the bed. Yaz could hear the shrill beep of a monitor to her left. 

“Here, this might help.”

Yaz only realised what had happened when the woman moved away, bearing an empty syringe. 

“What-”

The words she so badly wanted to say fell by the wayside as sleep welcomed her with open arms. 

The next time Yaz awoke, the woman had gone. The lights were dimmed and the blanket had been pulled up to her neck. She could just about make out the shape of the Doctor, still sleeping, on the other side of the room. It was deathly quiet, and a little strange that only the two of them were in a room that large. 

After taking a few moments to gather her bearings, Yaz pulled the IV line from her hand with a wince. The needle glistened crimson in the light and she let it drop, feeling nauseous. She let her feet fall to one side, putting her head between her knees as she tried to recover her composure. Her stomach still hurt, but far less than before. 

When she shifted the blanket slipped to the floor, and Yaz finally realised she was in a surgical gown. She shivered as her bare legs were exposed to the chill of the room. For a moment, she was torn - should she try and find her clothes? Or wake the Doctor? Despite the chill, Yaz knew she wouldn’t be able to focus until she knew that the Doctor was alright. She chose plan B and started to make her way across the room on weakened legs, her head spinning slightly after lying still for so long. 

When she was halfway across the room, the Doctor took her by surprise by lurching upright. 

“What?!” she shouted, eyes flying open and then slamming shut just as quickly as she let out a groan.

The sudden movement gave Yaz a start and she grimaced as something deep inside twinged. She wasn’t quite back to normal, but she certainly felt a lot stronger than she had the last time she’d woken up. The Doctor, on the other hand, seemed to have been unconscious the entire time and was completely disoriented.

“Doctor, it’s alright. I’m here. It’s me. Yaz.”

Yaz could see the Doctor frowning into the room, trying to figure out where they were. 

“Where...what... _ owwwww. _ ”

Yaz picked up the pace, distraught to see the Doctor in such obvious pain. 

“Don’t move too fast. You’ve been out for a while.” 

Her bare feet were silent on the cool floor as she finally closed the remaining distance between them, just in time for the Doctor to abruptly slide her legs over the side of the chair-bed and fall to the floor with a crash. She was also in a surgical gown, Yaz noted, and she quickly looked away when she realised that the Doctor was naked underneath it. The last time she’d seen the Doctor naked had been in a bathroom in Alabama, when they’d…

Yaz shook her head. She couldn’t get distracted. Not now.

“Are you okay?” she asked, carefully crouching by the Doctor’s head.

“Been better,” the Doctor muttered, and Yaz sent up a silent prayer of thanks when she moved onto her back, clutching her side. “I knew that ectospleen would cause me trouble.”

“Ectospleen?” Yaz shook her head in amazement. “Even your organs are different.”

“Thankfully my hearts are both in working order,” the Doctor groaned, a hand resting on her chest as if she was checking her heartbeat. Heartbeats, Yaz mentally corrected herself. 

“Hearts, plural?” she echoed. “Any other anatomy you want to tell me about?”

The Doctor raised an eyebrow and Yaz could sense she was about to try and make a joke when a fresh wave of pain made her face contort instead. 

“Hey, it’s alright.” Yaz offered what comfort she could as the Doctor rode it out. Her arm felt awfully skinny beneath her hand and Yaz couldn’t help but remember how fragile she’d felt in her arms when she'd been struggling with regeneration sickness. This was different but no less frightening. 

"Urgh," the Doctor groaned dramatically, pushing herself violently to her feet as if sheer force of will could overcome all physical obstacles. She nearly succeeded, too, until she overdid it and then struggled to correct her balance. Yaz couldn't bear to watch any longer and moved to help. She tried not to take it personally when the Doctor brushed her arm aside because if she was in as much pain as her expression suggested, everything was bound to be irritating. Still, Yaz wondered how much she could bear to see her like this and not help. It would be easy just to leave her to it; preferred, in fact, to spare her own hurt feelings, but she couldn't in good conscience let the Doctor do this alone. 

"Let me help you back to bed."

Yaz could see lines of pain crease the Doctor's face as she prepared her protest.

"I can't, Yaz. It'll settle, in time. But you can help me get us out of here and back to the TARDIS. I can’t leave her behind, what if someone scavenges her? We’ll be trapped. Now, where’s my sonic?"

With that, the Doctor turned to look for her clothes. Yaz shut her eyes as the Doctor obliviously bared herself again. 

“Doctor, you might want to…”

Yaz trailed off, gesturing vaguely at the Doctor’s back as she tried to avert her eyes. 

“Oh! I thought I felt a breeze.”

Yaz realised her best course of action would be to turn her back when the Doctor resumed her search, making no effort to hold the gown closed. Yaz found a particularly interesting patch of ceiling to inspect instead.

“So if we don’t find the TARDIS…”

“I’m not sure, Yaz. All I know is that she’s my home,  _ our _ home, and without it I also can’t take you back to your real, actual home.”

Yaz let the realisation sink in. She’d never see Graham or Ryan again. Or her family. The thought gripped her and she tried to ignore the unsettling feeling of panic trying to override logic and reasoning. The Doctor seemed to be struggling to do the same, and Yaz needed to keep a clear head. For both of them. 

“Okay. We’ll find the TARDIS, Doctor. But first thing’s first, we really need to get dressed.”

* * *

Yaz felt a lot more like her old self with her jeans, jumper, and coat back on. Far less cold, at least, which was a good thing because the hospital didn't seem to have heating of any kind. It did, however, have an odd hum that made Yaz think there was some kind of extreme air conditioning being used to keep the place cool. 

“Ready, Yaz?”

The Doctor was, thankfully, fully clothed when Yaz turns around again.

"Missing a boot so I'll make do without."

Yaz stifled a grin when she realised the Doctor's feet were clad only in stripy socks. She looked like a petulant child and her estimation wasn't far off when the Doctor scowled, rummaging in her coat pocket for her sonic. 

"These pockets are too big for their own good," she muttered, finally brandishing the screwdriver and using it to open the door. Much to Yaz's disappointment, the corridor outside didn’t seem much more welcoming, but clinical environments never were in her limited experience. She’d been to Royal Hallamshire hospital a few times during work to take statements, but it wasn’t anywhere near as modern as this hospital.

“We just need to find a way out of here and I’m sure we’ll be able to get a lock on her.”

Yaz nodded, uncertain precisely how that was going to work but hoping the Doctor knew what she was doing. It took her a while to realise that the corridor they were in was actually curved because there were no windows and no natural light to make sense of it. In fact, there were no clues whatsoever as to where they were or where they were going, no other people, either, but the Doctor strode off confidently and Yaz had no choice but to follow. Blue lights lit the way as they wandered around the building, looking for an exit. 

Judging by the number of rooms they entered and patients they disturbed, it didn’t seem like the Doctor had any better idea of how to leave than Yaz did. After departing the room of a pregnant man, Yaz started to wonder if she had, in fact, died, and was stuck in some sort of purgatory. The only reason she knew she wasn't was because the Doctor's pallor grew even more alarming as they walked the corridors, and because she had started to clutch at her side with increasing frequency as she hobbled around the building, ignoring Yaz’s requests to slow down. 

“Wait! What are you doing?”

A man’s voice echoed down the hallway behind them and Yaz stopped in her tracks, sensing an authority figure. The Doctor, on the other hand, continued as if she hadn’t even heard him. 

“Why are you out of bed? You need to rest.”

Yaz watched as the man jogged up, briefly eyeing Yaz up and down before clearly realising that the Doctor was more of an issue. 

She finally ground to a halt when he stood in front of her, arms outstretched in a last-ditch attempt to stop her. Yaz could see he had a device on his hand, and when he retrieved a scanner from his pocket, she recognised it as one similar to the device the female medic had used on her. 

The Doctor frowned at his nametag as he scanned her.

“Done enough resting, Astos. How long have we been here?”

Even though she was in pain, Yaz could hear the confidence in the Doctor’s voice. Astos might have been an authority figure but the Doctor was going to give him a run for his money.

“Four days,” he said, sighing as he read the findings on his scanner. “Your ectospleen needs more time to settle.”

“Four days?!” the Doctor exclaimed. “The TARDIS has been on a junk planet for four days,” she groaned. “She’s going to kill me if I ever find her.”

She gasped, clutching her side. 

“Your spleen might kill you first at this rate.”

Yaz couldn’t tell if Astos was being entirely serious but she was certain a medic wouldn’t lie about something like that. The Doctor, on the other hand, didn’t seem to heed his warning at all.

“Which way is out? Hospitals should have better signage than this.”

“I’m not discharging you.” Astos put his hands on his hips in a move that Yaz recognised as one of the Doctor’s signature stances. He wasn’t going to capitulate easily.

“Look, I appreciate everything you’ve done for us, I really do. But I’m afraid that now we need to leave.”

“And I’m afraid that will have to wait.”

“No, it won’t,” the Doctor bit out, brushing past Astos. 

“It will, because Tsuranga is on a course to Resus One.”

“Tsuranga...I know that name,” the Doctor frowned, pausing in her mission as she tried and failed to place it. “It’ll come to me, I’m sure.”

“A course? To where?” Yaz asked, following the two of them now as they meandered the corridors. The Doctor had started to weave slightly, unable to follow a straight line, but it was hard to when the corridors curved just so. 

“What do you mean a course?”

The Doctor punctuated Yaz’s question by abruptly falling to the floor, face twisted in agony as she brought her knees up to her chest, writhing in pain.

“Shit. Doctor, stop moving around so much,” Yaz pleaded, hovering over her as Astos made himself useful.

“You're a doctor? Can you tell me what hurts the most?” he asked, rummaging in a bag at his side for a rather mean-looking syringe. Yaz paled at the sight of it. Whatever century they were in, hospitals still gave her the creeps.

“Everything,” the Doctor panted, eyes screwed shut.

“Heavy-duty painkiller it is, then,” he said, filling the syringe before he efficiently rolled up the Doctor’s sleeves, sterilised a patch of skin, and inserted the needle into a vein in her arm. It seemed to work instantly because her pinched expression eased within seconds and her limbs relaxed as she sprawled across the floor.

“Oh,” she sighed. “We’re on a ship. How could I have missed that? The vibrations,” she slapped her palms on the floor. “The humming. We’re on a ship, and we’re in flight.”

Yaz felt her stomach sink. As if it wasn’t bad enough they were stranded, they were stranded en route to a destination that was outside of their control. 

“I was trying to break it to you gently,” Astos said as he resumed rummaging in his kit, retrieving a disc of material and peeling a layer from the back from it. 

"If you're not going to stay put, at least wear a monitor." He stuck the patch onto the skin of the Doctor's neck and Yaz couldn't quite believe her eyes when she saw a line come to life, jagged and regular. Then two lines, moving in a synchronised rhythm. The Doctor's heartbeats. Astos did a double take, clearly unused to seeing double. 

“Fine. Not like you gave me much choice, Astos. And before you ask, yes I have two hearts. Help me up, Yaz.”

The moment she was back on her feet the Doctor slipped from their grasp, aiming her sonic at a panel on the wall. 

Yaz tried not to sigh at the Doctor’s antics as the panel flickered to life, displaying a schematic.

“Aha! A map.”

“Stop fiddling!” Astos yelped, trying to insert himself between the Doctor and the screen. But she was too quick, her eyes scanning the schematic rapidly. 

“Where’s your on-board teleport? I can use that, I’ll be out of your hair before you know it.” 

“No, you’re not going anywhere. You’re injured, and you’re going back to Resus One.” 

“Navchamber it is, then,” the Doctor said. “Come on, Yaz.”

Yaz could hear Astos sigh behind them as they resumed their journey. She felt torn, eager to get back to the TARDIS herself but knowing deep down that Astos was right. Besides, she didn’t feel entirely back to normal herself; she could only imagine how terrible the Doctor was feeling, but she powered on stubbornly.

Behind them, Astos started speaking aloud. 

“Mabli, where are you? I could do with some help. The sonic mine patients are running loose.”

His efforts were in vain because just as he finished speaking, the Doctor found the room she’d been looking for.

“Bingo,” she murmured, using the sonic to gain entry to what Yaz assumed was the navchamber. But it was empty.

“Who’s flying the ship?”

“Hey, you can’t be in here!” Astos protested, and Yaz could sense he was starting to get frustrated by the Doctor’s antics. “I don’t know how you got in here but if you don’t leave voluntarily, I’ll have to restrain you.”

“Doctor…” Yaz started, sensing tension as the Doctor glared back at him. “You should probably listen to him.”

The Doctor shook her head. 

“I can change the course. Won’t take two seconds!”

“No, you can’t. If Resus One thinks Tsuranga has been hijacked, they will detonate the ship and everyone on board will be taken with it. The route is programmed remotely and locked.”

“Not for long,” the Doctor responded and Yaz gasped. Astos looked to her with a plea in his eyes for help. 

“Listen to me, Doctor, if you’re not going to listen to him. If you try and interfere,” she said, choosing the word carefully, “they’ll blow the ship up. People will die. Including that man and his baby.”

Her words finally seemed to sink in because the Doctor’s shoulders slumped as the fight finally left her. 

“You’re right. Of course you are. Sorry, Yaz. That mine hit me harder than I thought.”

She sagged against the nearest wall, composing herself. But as soon as Yaz took a step towards her, she pushed herself away. 

“Ok. I’m ok.”

Before Yaz could argue the point, a beeping on one of the monitors drew the attention of everyone in the room. The three of them converged without another word, intent on deciphering the message.

“What’s that?” Yaz frowned, struggling to decipher what she was looking at. The screen was full of symbols and signs she’d never seen before but the Doctor seemed to be able to understand them instantly. 

Astos’s answer was drowned out by a loud bang, followed milliseconds later by the bleating of an alarm and red strobing lights. 

“Bit dramatic,” the Doctor muttered, reaching into her pocket and retrieving a stethoscope, placing it flat against the wall as she listened in over the noise of the alarm. 

“Something’s inside the shields,” she concluded. “And it’s moving fast. Bring up that map again, will you?”

Astos decided not to argue, moving his fingers quickly over a screen to bring up a much larger schematic. This time, Yaz could properly see the nature of the ship they were on and it didn’t bring her much comfort. The presence of several lifepods that Astos had just pointed out drove home the fact that they were travelling through space on a strange ship. The TARDIS didn’t have lifepods and it felt safer than this. In all their travels, nothing had broken through its shields. She started to realise why the Doctor was so keen to retrieve her own ship.

“Whatever broke through, it’s draining power. Can you see?”

The Doctor pointed to an area of the schematic that had gone dark. 

“That’s not possible,” Astos exclaimed. 

“We’re going to have to check it out,” the Doctor said. Astos agreed, reaching back into his bag for two smaller discs. 

“Comms patches,” he explained, pointing to the one on his own neck. “Put one there and you should be able to stay in contact with me and Mabli, the other medic. But for now, let’s leave her out of it. She’s caring for patients and this is only her second tour. It could be a false alarm.”

Yaz nodded, sticking the dot to her neck and watching as the Doctor did the same. 

“Yaz, was it? Do you want to take portside or starboard?”

“Wait a second. You two can take portside and I’ll take starboard. That’s where the last breach was.”

“Doctor-”

“No. You’re injured. You can stay here,” Astos insisted.

The Doctor shook her head vehemently, but Yaz could see the monitor on her neck starting to flash yellow as she clasped her side.

“You’re hurting, Doctor. Your heartbeats...they’re all over the place.”

Yaz raised a hand to touch the monitor on the Doctor’s neck, frowning as she inspected the irregular lines. She didn’t mean to touch the patch but she couldn’t help herself, and the Doctor froze in place as she traced the readout. 

“I’m fine, Yaz.”

Yaz jerked her fingers back, belatedly realising what she’d done when she felt the vibrations of the Doctor’s voice against her hand. But when she was stood this close, she could clearly see that the Doctor’s eyes were pained. 

“You're worrying me. Can you not use a bit of regeneration energy? Heal yourself?” Yaz wasn’t all that keen on the idea, given the side-effects of regeneration, but anything had to be better than seeing the Doctor in pain.

“I don't have time, Yaz. I can’t tap into it right now, I have more important things to worry about.”

As if on cue the alarm blared again, signalling that another breach had occurred. 

“We’re getting out of this,” the Doctor continued. Her gaze softened as the wave of pain seemed to pass and she let go of her side, straightening back up. Yaz couldn’t tell if the Doctor really was feeling better or if she was just making more of an effort to hide how much pain she was in. 

She had a horrible suspicion that it was the latter, going from the microexpressions the Doctor was not very good at hiding; tiny flickers that Yaz had made an effort to learn in an attempt to understand the enigma in front of her.

“Yaz. You need to start trusting me. I promise, I will get you out of this.”

It dawned on Yaz that all she could do was take the Doctor’s word for it. Arguing wasn’t going to get them out of this situation and she bit her tongue, resolving to put aside her doubts if only so they could get out alive. 

“Alright, Doctor. But the moment that thing is gone, you’re letting Astos take a proper look at you.”

“Scout’s honour,” the Doctor saluted, and Yaz was certain she didn’t imagine the brief wince that emerged on her face with the movement. 

“Right, then,” the Doctor continued, suddenly energised as she addressed Astos. “You and Yaz take portside and I’ll take starboard. End of discussion.”

* * *

Their attempts to determine what had breached the ship proved fruitless; whatever it was had long gone by the time that Yaz and Astos reached the lifepods on the port side of the ship. Well, what was left of the lifepods; they’d all been ejected on that side, Yaz noted, making a determined effort to tamp down on the panic that seemed ready to erupt at any moment. 

The lights had also gone out, leaving Yaz on edge as they edged forward in the gloom. It was like being in a real-life horror film and she suddenly hated Sonya for making her watch  _ Alien _ all those years ago. 

It was a message from the Doctor that ultimately summoned them back, transmitted through their comm dots like a beacon in the darkness. But what they encountered when they finally caught up with her was completely unexpected. There was someone with the Doctor, someone that Yaz vaguely recognised, but her attention was immediately captured by something else that was currently wriggling down the hallway.

A little grey creature was face down in one of the pipes running alongside the wall, legs wiggling as it apparently devoured the metal. 

“Bloody hell, what’s that?” Yaz asked. 

The Doctor gave a half-shrug, seemingly nonplussed. “I have no idea.”

“You…have no idea?”

The Doctor shook her head. “None. I’m at a complete loss. What I do know is that it crashed into us. And it’s eating through metal. And it jettisoned all of the starboard lifepods.”

As if on cue, the creature backed itself out of the hole it had eaten and turned to face its audience. Yaz’s first impression was that it was far too cute to be dangerous. She quickly revised her opinion when the creature bared its teeth, which were too sharp and numerous to be cute. 

“Astos? What’s going on?”

The other woman had spoken quietly, having taken Astos to one side, but Yaz recognised her voice almost instantly. She’d been there when she’d woken up. This had to be Mabli, she reasoned. 

“Great question. Before we can answer it, though, I think we need to figure out what our visitor is,” the Doctor said, butting in before Astos could explain.

“Hang on!” Mabli’s face lit up. “I can sync my ocular recorder with the databanks. I’m sure it’s on file.”

Mabli was right. Yaz watched as the computer told them all about the Pting, the alien that had crashed into the ship. As it explained just how dangerous it was, Yaz felt the strength leave her legs and found a wall to lean against. How on earth had they ended up in such a dangerous situation? She was glad the Doctor was here because the panic she’d been trying to keep at bay was still striving to get out.

“So it won’t eat us, but it’ll eat the ship?” Mabli asked. 

The Doctor nodded grimly.

“And there are no lifepods left?”

Astos shook his head.

“It’s going to kill us all,” Mabli moaned.

Yaz gasped as she realised that she might have a point. The Doctor picked up on it instantly and made her way over to her companion. 

“You okay, Yaz? We’ll be alright. What did I tell you earlier? I promised I’d get you out of this.”

She turned to Mabli. 

“Bit of a leap there! I mean, it's a challenge, and I can't quite see the solution yet, but that's life, isn’t it? Problem solving.” 

“How can we deal with it if we’re not meant to engage with it? That’s what the computer said,” Yaz felt a semblance of self-control return when she forced herself to think practically. To think like the Doctor would.

The Doctor frowned as she started to pace. “Think, Doctor. Think.” 

A flash of pain passed across her face but she continued regardless, too caught up in her thoughts.

“You really should sit down before you fall down,” Astos pointed out. “At least until your heart rates settle.”

The Doctor fixed him with a stare as she continued to pace. She reminded Yaz of a caged animal, one that she wasn’t keen to provoke. She had to mentally applaud Astos for his persistence.

“I don’t like being told what to do,” the Doctor practically growled in response, but Yaz could see that her pace was faltering. She’d never seen her like this.

“I’m sensing that,” Astos replied, his tone gentler as he changed tactics. “But you can at least rest while you think.”

Before he could try and lead her to a seat, another alarm went off. This one sounded much more shrill, and it gave Yaz an instant headache.

“What’s that?” she asked. “It’s different to before.”

“Resus One has detected the Pting," Astos winced at the noise. "We need to get it off the ship, Doctor. We can’t take it back to Resus One, there are thousands of patients there. And every minute that goes by, we're a minute closer.”

“And we really can’t change course?”

“No. It’s out of our hands, Doctor. Resus One is in control of everything.”

The Doctor pondered for a moment longer and Yaz could have sworn she saw the cogs turning.

“Off the ship...you’re onto something Astos. But how do we do that? And how do we turn that racket off? It’s really not helping me think.” 

Abruptly, the Doctor stopped pacing and slammed a button on the screen, successfully silencing the noise. Mabli gasped.

“We can’t do that again!” she shrieked. “Oh my god.”

“Why not?” Yaz replied, already feeling more relaxed without the constant noise of the alarm.

“Three strikes. If we tell them three times that there are no problems and they still detect one, they’ll think we’ve been hijacked. Remote detonation.”

The Doctor groaned.

“Oh, you’re joking.”

“No," Mabli shook her head.

“They really are in control of everything. And they really like to blow things up,” the Doctor muttered as she resumed pacing. 

“Wait. There’s a bomb on this ship?” Yaz asked. If she had already felt discomfort at being trapped on board a remotely controlled spaceship with no escape routes, her discomfort magnified tenfold when Mabli nodded.

“Yep. So please,  _ please _ don’t press any more buttons.”

“Where’s the bomb?” the Doctor asked, already moving onto the next problem.

“In the drive chamber,” Astos replied, already working to pull up the schematic. There were more dark patches than before, Yaz was disheartened to see. The Doctor braced herself against the console next to her and Yaz could see her arms trembling with the effort. 

“And what kind of drive powers this ship?”

“An anti-matter drive,” Astos said, pointing it out on the map.

“Really? This day just gets more and more interesting."

Interesting wouldn't have been Yaz's first way to describe this day but her observation was sidelined by the feel of the Doctor's hand sliding into her own, pulling her towards the door. 

"Come on, Yaz. We’re going to the drive chamber.”

* * *

“Doctor...why are we here?”

Yaz couldn’t help but stare at the device in the middle of the room. It looked like a double helix, almost, but a golden yellow light streamed through it. It was hypnotic to watch. 

“What do you know about anti-matter, Yaz?”

Yaz shrugged. 

“I learned a bit in school. I don’t think what I know will come in handy here, though.”

Yaz listened as the Doctor patiently explained how an anti-matter drive could propel a ship through space. She barely listened to the words in the end, too focused on the Doctor’s expression as she tried to convey the ingenuity of the engineering in front of them. It was distracting to say the least. It also reminded her of why she hadn’t taken much in when she’d learned it at school; she’d had a crush on her physics teacher, Miss Scanlon.

“So that’s why we have to keep it safe from the Pting. If we don’t, we’ll lose power and get stuck here.”

Yaz gulped. She wished she’d paid a bit more attention. The Doctor didn't seem to notice, still wrapped up in her explanation.

“But I think power is what it’s after. And you know what else contains energy? A bomb.”

The Doctor grunted softly as she dropped to her knees, screwdriver in hand. 

“We need to draw it away from the anti-matter drive, and a bomb is perfect bait. It just so happens…” the Doctor continued, fiddling with a panel in the base of the drive, “that they're in close proximity.”

Yaz held her breath as the Doctor reached inside, gingerly easing out a flat, blue disc. The monitor on her neck flashed but Yaz barely noticed it, too preoccupied by the potentially lethal weapon held in the Doctor's ever so slightly shaky grip.

“That’s a bomb?” Yaz asked in disbelief.

The Doctor nodded, getting to her feet with a wobble. 

“Doctor!” Yaz shouted in alarm, before she realised that sudden noises might not be the best idea.

“Sorry. But I think I should carry that,” she said, nodding at the device held precariously in the Doctor’s grip.

“No way. It’s far too dangerous.”

“It’s no more dangerous than the situation I’m already in. And no offence, Doctor, but right now I think you’re more likely to drop it.”

The Doctor sighed and Yaz bit back a wave of frustration at her stubbornness. She knew what was coming. 

“Yaz, I’m not letting you carry a bomb. End of story. But you can follow me.”

* * *

“You know, if this works-”

“When this works, Yaz,” the Doctor replied, backing them both up against the wall. Even though she could barely stand, she insisted on keeping Yaz behind her. Yaz tried to ignore the way the Doctor was pressed up against her. Her heartbeats were still visible and Yaz focused on them. Except instead of yellow, the lines had gone a reddish colour that Yaz wasn't sure she was a fan of.

Out of the corner of her eye, Yaz could see the countdown on the bomb they’d left in the airlock. 39 seconds until detonation.

“Fine, when this works,  _ then _ will you let Astos take a look at you?” Despite the dire circumstances, Yaz had to try and drive the point home. She had to cling to the idea that they would survive. That they would still be alive in 34 seconds' time. 

“Would it make you feel better if I told you what was wrong?”

Without waiting for an answer, the Doctor fished out her sonic from inside her coat and briefly scanned herself. She held it up and scrutinised it, muttering something as she interpreted the readings. 

“Oh. Okay, a bit worse than I thought,” she admitted.

“Doctor?” For her to admit she was in trouble made Yaz wonder precisely how much trouble she was in.

“It might have ruptured. I did think I felt a twinge when I picked up the bomb.”

"And you still wouldn't let me carry it! Doctor, what were you thinking?" Yaz snapped, terrified and angry all at once. She was at the end of her tether and scared, more than anything, that she might be about to die in the depths of space thanks to a bomb the Doctor had deliberately set to blow up.

To make matters worse, the Doctor dropped her sonic when she grabbed hold of her side and Yaz watched as it rolled across the floor and straight into the path of the Pting, which had just turned the corner with 17 seconds to spare.

“Yaz! Quick, grab it before it eats it!” the Doctor exclaimed, the patch on her neck now flashing red. 

Without a second thought, Yaz dashed towards the angry-looking alien and snatched it, legging it back to safety as soon as she’d wrapped her fingers around the cool metal. She could feel her heart pounding thanks to the adrenaline coursing through her veins. Getting close to a Pting was something she did not wish to repeat, and she found herself questioning her life choices for the umpteenth time that day.

The Doctor huffed impatiently, shifting on her feet as the little creature looked around for its next meal.

“It should be going for the bomb,” she muttered. Then, more loudly, she addressed the Pting, which seemed strangely hesitant.  _ Of all the times for it to second-guess things _ , Yaz thought,  _ of course it does when a bomb is counting down. _

“Come on mate, I haven’t got all day. My spleen’s rupturing as we speak.”

To Yaz’s immense relief, the Pting finally spotted the bomb and trotted over, oblivious to the two people standing by the door, ready to eject it into space.

With a slurp, it devoured the device with seconds to spare. 

“Now, Yaz, shut that door before it blows!”

Yaz slammed her hand down on the button and the doors collided just in time for her to see the Pting absorb every single last joule of energy from the explosion. As the Pting merrily digested its huge meal, Yaz found the button to eject it into space and watched as it drifted away peacefully. 

She couldn't believe it was still alive after ingesting a bomb, but it looked strangely content. For something so small to contain an explosion of that magnitude...Yaz couldn't quite wrap her head around it.

“How come the Pting didn't blow up, too?” she asked, baffled.

But the Doctor didn’t reply and when Yaz turned, she realised why. 

“Oh my god. Doctor!”

She slid to her knees as she reached for the prone form on the floor. The Doctor's face was as white as the walls surrounding them and the only sign of life was the monitor on her neck, which was now flashing bright red. 

“Doctor, can you hear me?” Yaz gently shook her shoulder but she didn’t respond. The monitor continued to flash red, so she resorted to the old-fashioned way of detecting a pulse and placed two fingertips at the juncture between the Doctor's jaw and her neck. Yaz breathed a sigh of relief as she felt the twin pulses thud lightly underneath her fingers. 

Relieved that the Doctor was alive, she then raised them to touch the comm dot on her neck. Calling for backup was second nature in a scrape like this and her first port of call was clearly not in any state to help.

“Astos? Mabli? I need your help. The Doctor needs your help.”

Astos’s voice patched through instantly. 

“We’ll be right there. I can check her status remotely…"

He paused as he read the Doctor's vital signs. 

"She's unconscious but that's probably for the best. It's a miracle this didn't happen before now. Did you manage to get rid of the Pting?”

“It’s gone. Ate the bomb and blew away.”

“Thank goodness for that,” Mabli chipped in. ”We’re on our way.”

Yaz could feel adrenaline abandon her, and tiredness followed in its wake with the immediate threat now gone. She slumped to the floor, positioning herself so that she could gently ease the Doctor’s head onto her lap as she leaned her back against the wall. As she was moved, a trickle of blood escaped from the Doctor's mouth. Without thinking, Yaz used her coat sleeve to wipe it away, leaving a smear of orange-red behind. It made it worse, somehow. 

The Doctor might be alien but she was fallible and irrational, and at moments like this, she seemed almost human. 

“What have you done to yourself, Doctor? Running yourself ragged. And you missed the explosion. I bet you’ll be annoyed about that later.”

Yaz smoothed the Doctor’s hair away from her face, which looked peaceful for the first time in several hours.

“Next time, I hope you’ll listen to me. You need to look after yourself as well, you know. You always put others first.”

Yaz didn’t stop running her hand through the Doctor’s hair, letting the movement soothe her as she waited. Keeping calm was proving difficult but so long as she could hear the Doctor breathing, Yaz knew that she just had to be patient. 

It seemed like half an hour had passed before she heard the sound of feet running towards them. Sure enough, Astos and Mabli finally emerged bearing a stretcher, breathing hard. It couldn't have been longer than a few minutes but they were the loneliest minutes Yaz had ever experienced and she was immensely grateful to see them. 

"How long has she been like this?" Astos asked.

"A few minutes? Maybe."

"And she's not been conscious since?"

"No," Yaz said, her voice breaking over the word. "She'll be alright, won't she?"

Astos didn't reply, too focused on his patient. Yaz wondered if he'd ignored her deliberately. Perhaps he was bad at telling people that things would be alright when the opposite was true. 

“We need to get moving. Mabli, on three.”

Yaz watched as they carefully lifted the Doctor onto a stretcher but she didn’t seem to even notice that she was being moved. 

“Theatre, quickly.”

* * *

The Doctor didn’t stir until she was moved again, this time onto a full-sized operating table, rather than the weird beds they’d woken up on.

“Yaz?” she moaned, hand grasping thin air. “Where’s Yaz?”

“I’m here,” Yaz said, reaching for her hand. “You’ll be alright.” 

“Actually, you need to have your spleen removed, it's been damaged too much,” Astos chipped in. “I’m sorry, Doctor, but we need to move quickly.”

“Removed?” Yaz asked, eyes wide. The suggestion seemed a bit drastic. “Haven’t you got anything a bit more...high-tech than that?” 

“Not at this stage, no,” Astos replied. “If we’d dealt with it earlier, maybe…”

He trailed off and Yaz bit back a sigh of frustration at the Doctor’s obstinacy.

“Mabli, get the surgical kit ready.” The other medic nodded, wide-eyed, and Yaz could see that she was nervous. The reason why became clear when Astos reassured her that spleen removal was fairly straightforward, even if she’d never done it before.

Yaz felt her heart leap into her mouth.

“Wait! I can fix it," the Doctor insisted weakly, hearts continuing to beat a rapid tattoo on her neck.

Astos shook his head. 

“You’re bleeding internally, Doctor and unless we remove it you know what will happen.”

Before she even opened her mouth, Yaz knew the Doctor would disagree. She and Astos had butted heads from the very first moment they met; even though she was dying and about to be cut open, the Doctor still had an answer for everything. 

“Listen. I can fix it, I really can. I can...regenerate.”

Astos frowned, completely caught off-guard. “What?”

“I don’t suppose they’ll have taught you much about Time Lord physiology at medical school,” the Doctor huffed, squirming uncomfortably on the table. “There aren’t many of us left. Any, really.”

_ Time Lord? _

The Doctor continued speaking to her captive audience. Despite the obvious pain she was in, she couldn't help but inform them.

“Or I can enter a healing coma. I'm clever like that. Just... didn't have the chance to deal with it, before. Other things to sort out first." 

The Doctor tried a smile but it was more like a grimace and Yaz felt her stomach turn as more blood escaped from the corner of her mouth. Fear bubbled into frustration as Yaz realised that neither option sounded promising.

“If you’d only listened to us earlier, you’d be alright,” Yaz said, feeling her eyes sting with unshed tears. “Why didn’t you listen? You needed to rest.” 

“Because the TARDIS needed me,” the Doctor replied, but Yaz was mollified to see that she seemed at least a little contrite. 

“Well, the TARDIS can wait. I need you more.”

“Yaz-”

“Stop. Please, stop. None of these options sound good to me, Doctor. But what do you want to do?”

“Don’t let them take my spleen, Yaz. It really does come in handy.”

Yaz sighed. “Only if you don’t regenerate. Or go into a coma. We’ll find another way. Deal?”

Yaz didn’t let the Doctor reply, turning to Astos instead with a plea in her eyes. 

“Is there another option? Surely you can’t take her spleen if she doesn’t want you to.”

“I can if I think it’ll kill her.” 

“What about nanobots?” Mabli suggested. She’d already donned a surgical gown and gloves and seemed just as willing to avoid surgery as the Doctor herself. 

“They won't be enough," Astos shook his head. 

"But could they help the Doctor heal herself?" Yaz asked, desperate to pursue an option that would leave her Doctor reasonably intact. 

A loud groan from the table stopped them all talking. 

"Yes, they could. Just do it," the Doctor wheezed, trying to curl in on herself. "I can sleep it off that way. And if you have anything for the pain, I wouldn't say no."

Yaz watched Astos's expression soften. 

"I'm sorry, Doctor. You must be in agony."

Yaz used a trembling hand to encourage the Doctor to lie flat, with the aid of Mabli, and watched as Astos gingerly rolled up the Doctor's shirts. 

She gasped aloud when she saw the extent of the bruised skin underneath. The Doctor's stomach was almost entirely purple.

"Internal bleeding," Astos said grimly. "I can't help but think this is too little, too late."

Yaz kept her eyes fixed on the Doctor's face as Astos brought out an even bigger syringe than before and set to work numbing the area. Mabli moved to hold down her legs when the Doctor started to fidget. 

"You have to stay still, Doctor. I'm sorry. I know it hurts."

“Nearly done,” Astos said, trying to move quickly. Yaz could see him work out of the corner of her eye and hoped that the worst was nearly over. 

“You have all this fancy kit and you still have needles that big?” she asked, feeling her stomach turn as the needle slid into the Doctor’s stomach once again. 

“They had it right in the 20th century for some things,” Astos murmured, concentrating on the task at hand. “Straight to the source of the pain this way. That means you also probably don’t want to see how we inject nanobots.”

Yaz shook her head and turned her attention back to the Doctor when Astos pulled out a device that would haunt her dreams. Rather than one needle, it contained six, wickedly sharp and poised to deliver something that Yaz had to hope would work. 

“Mabli, can you pass me that vial?” 

Yaz listened to them talk quietly between themselves as they prepared to administer the nanobots. 

“This had better work, Doctor," she said, brushing blonde hair from her face. She’d started to sweat, clearly unwell. 

"Argh. It will," the Doctor hissed through clenched teeth. Tears escaped from her eyes and trailed into the hair at her temples as she rode out the pain. Yaz murmured nonsense to her, trying to remind the Doctor that she was there with her.

“Those drugs don’t seem to be working,” Yaz said, brushing the tears from the Doctor’s face. “You said it would go straight to the source.”

Astos nodded. “It still takes a moment. Give it a chance.”

Yaz watched the Doctor’s face for any signs of relief. She could practically pinpoint the moment that the painkillers finally kicked in because her jaw slackened, followed by the rest of the muscles in her face.

Astos could see the change, too.

“Alright then, Doctor. Are you ready?” 

Yaz watched, horrified, as he held up the device over the Doctor’s stomach. Mabli had resumed her position by the Doctor’s legs to make sure she kept still. 

“Can you make sure she doesn’t try and move?” she asked Yaz, nodding at the Doctor’s upper torso. 

Yaz pressed down gently on her shoulders, and the Doctor blinked up at her. The position Yaz was in meant that they could look directly at one another. 

“Hiya Yaz,” the Doctor slurred. “What are you doing here?”

“Long story,” Yaz sighed, wondering how on earth she was going to explain this when the Doctor had recovered. She hoped that this particular burst of memory loss was entirely pharmacological and would dissipate along with the drugs. 

“Very tired,” the Doctor mused, apparently oblivious to the nanobots that were being injected directly into her spleen. “And something tickles.”

She started to shift but Yaz held her down. 

“I bet,” she grimaced. “I’ll explain later. But if you’re tired, why don’t you try and sleep?”

“Hm. Don’t need to. But if you insist.”

Yaz laughed lightly. 

“Like you’d ever listen to me, Doctor.”

“I do, Yaz. I mean to.”

Glazed hazel eyes suggested that the Doctor might not remember or even mean what she was saying, but Yaz had to take her victories where she could. 

“I’ll hold you to that.”

The procedure was quick, and Yaz was surprised to hear Astos speak up after only a few moments.

“Okay,” he sighed, “all done.” Yaz heard the sound of metal landing on metal and braved a look behind her. She could see the injection sites but the purple skin was already starting to fade slightly and she breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Did it work?” she asked. 

“We won’t know for sure just yet. She’ll need a few hours to sleep, let the nanobots do their job,” Mabli explained. 

“Yes, you may as well get some rest, too. She’ll be out for a few hours,” Astos continued, tidying the equipment away. “Mabli, the same goes for you. Get some rest. I’ll check on the other patients.”

Astos left them alone and Mabli was almost out the door when she paused. 

“There’s room on there for two, you know,” she said. 

“What?”

“Oh. My mistake. I thought you might want to sleep next to her.”

Yaz felt a pang at the idea. She did want to, more than anything. 

“I- yeah. I do. Thanks.”

“Here,” Mabli smiled, retrieving a spare blanket from one of the cupboards by the door. “It can be pretty chilly on Tsuranga.”

“Yeah, I think you guys could turn the thermostat up,” Yaz agreed, gratefully accepting the blanket. 

“There are other ways to stay warm,” Mabli smiled. “I’ll lock the door behind me, give you some privacy.”

With that, she left, and Yaz was glad that the Doctor was out for the count because she didn’t want to try and explain the significance of what Mabli had been hinting at. It was bad enough having to try and deal with the concept herself. 

But Mabli was right in other ways: there was room for her on the bed, although it was a bit of a squeeze because of the way the Doctor was lying. Yaz eased herself onto the side, carefully draping a blanket over both of them and making sure the Doctor was tucked in. Space was so cold, and so lonely. She wondered how the Doctor had ever managed to travel alone in it. Surrounded by a vacuum, silence, and the stars for company. 

Yaz regarded the woman lying next to her. The Doctor had nearly died and Yaz hadn't worked up the nerve to tell her how she felt. Maybe it was for the best, given how many dangerous situations they seemed to find themselves in. Maybe it was safer not to say anything at all. 

Despite the chill and the rather depressing chain of thought, the events of the day soon caught up with her and she felt herself drifting, utterly exhausted. 

“Yaz?”

The Doctor’s voice was quiet but it was right in her ear and there was no mistaking it. 

“Yeah?”

“Have we done this before?”

Yaz felt her heart leap into her mouth again, this time for an entirely different reason. 

“Done what?”

“Shared a bed. It feels familiar.”

The Doctor sounded surprisingly lucid for someone who was doped to the gills. 

_ Are you okay with this? Sharing a bed, I mean? _

“No, we haven’t.”

Yaz hoped the Doctor wouldn’t open her eyes because she was certain the tears in her own would be painfully obvious. 

"Oh." The Doctor sounded almost disappointed, although Yaz couldn't be sure if she was reading into things.  _ Cut it out. _

"We should do it more often."

An arm landed on Yaz’s stomach, clumsy but deliberate. The Doctor’s hand spanned across her waist, trying to tug her closer. 

Yaz couldn’t help the laugh that escaped, even as she tried to sniff away the burgeoning tears. 

"What are you doing?”

"Keeping you safe,” the Doctor mumbled, eyes still closed. "Don't want you falling off."

Yaz felt herself melt a little. The Doctor's stubbornness had been infuriating and yet here she was, back at square one. Completely and utterly screwed because she had well and truly fallen for the woman next to her.

"You always keep me safe," Yaz whispered into the dark.

The Doctor didn't hear her words; she responded with a light snore, hand still protectively wrapped around Yaz's waist, even in sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, you can find me on Twitter @_mag_lex.
> 
> My fics are now on WordPress at maglexfic.wordpress.com. You should be able to subscribe there to all my new ones, since I won't be posting any new fics to Ao3 for the foreseeable future :)


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